


Understanding

by GeorgeFredSlytherin



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: But without hating Luther, Character Study?, Gen, I'm not really sure, Kinda, Mentions of Luther hate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-09 19:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19482781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeorgeFredSlytherin/pseuds/GeorgeFredSlytherin
Summary: The fireworks set off a surprising flare in the Hargreeves' household.





	Understanding

**Author's Note:**

> TUA isn't mine.

Five was alone for forty years. He was completely isolated the whole time, except for Dolores, so yes, his reaction to touch wasn’t unexpected. This was a mixture of desire for and fear of people which confused his siblings endlessly. It also extended to the mere presence of people, and often to loud noises.

Klaus had fought in a war. He had seen death, been the owner of the gun who shot death, so yes, occasionally he would react badly to loud noises or flashes of light. These were expected.

It is the fourth of July and Klaus had pronounced loudly that whether they lived in America or not, freedom should be celebrated. He had proceeded to take Luther, go out and buy what looked like an entire store of fireworks. Vanya had taken him aside and mentioned the whole ‘problem with explosions thing.’ Klaus had insisted that he would be fine, as long as he knew they were coming. Five, who had slowly been readjusting, just nodded his approval.

Diego had said that, if they were going to do fireworks they had to do them right, which meant VERY late at night. It’s almost 11:15 before Diego even starts to prepare the fireworks. 

Ben distracts Klaus and Allison while Vanya, who is the only one who has ever actually used a firework instructs Diego and Luther on how to make them work. Five sits close by, listening and probably trying to figure out – in his head - the exact physics behind the explosive items.

At exactly 11:42 and thirty-five seconds, Luther sets off the first firework. It’s a big one, beautiful and glorious. Every sibling glances over at Klaus and Five, but the two boys seem utterly enthralled by the lights in the sky. Diego continues setting off fireworks until they’re gone. Sometimes they all flinch from the noise or the brightness, but neither Klaus nor Five seem all to concerned. It’s only after the last firework has gone off and Five has turned on the porch light that they see the problem. 

Luther is cowering in the corner, hands over his ears.

And that makes no sense because Luther has never been to war. He has never heard enormous bombs going off or seen people become less than on a field. He has never lived in an apocalypse, struggling to survive.

They all expect Allison to step forward first. Three and One have always been close, but they’re not Three and One anymore, they’re Luther and Allison, and they don’t know each other anywhere near as much as they used to. Allison looks just as confused as the rest.

Five is the one who breaks the silence, eyes going wide. “Four years,” he whispers. Diego opens his mouth to ask a question and Klaus punches him in the shoulder. Diego stays quiet. “Go inside,” Five says quietly, and, after a pause they all do.

They sit at the kitchen table for a long time, the five of them. Ben is there sometimes, flickering into being for a moment and then disappearing again with the fluctuation of his brother’s anxiety. Abruptly, Ben heads for the door. As he steps through it he feels Klaus stop doing – whatever it is he does – and he flickers back to incorporeal.

Luther is still sitting in the corner, hands over his ears. Five is sitting in front of him, just sitting. He isn’t talking. He isn’t even moving. Ben waits. And waits. And waits. He’s about to leave when he sees Luther twitch. The big man – he looks so small – opens his eyes and looks up. Ben isn’t sure, but he thinks he sees Luther flinch when he sees Five. The old man in a tiny boy’s body doesn’t react. He just waits.

Eventually, Luther lowers one hand, and then the other. The silence that follows is finally broken when Five whispers something. Ben only notices that Five said something because he saw his lips moving, and because Luther looked up just a little. Five seems determined to be as quiet as possible. Luther shrugs. 

Eventually, they stand and go inside. Luther passes his family without a word. Before he leaves the kitchen, Five gives him a questioning look, and Luther just shakes his head. Five stays.

“What – What was - ?” Ben is pretty sure that if anyone else had asked, Five would have just given them an annoyed look and walked away. Vanya’s wobbly voice seems to break him down a little though and he answers.

“Four years,” he says, which isn’t really an answer. Vanya looks at Five questioningly. He takes a deep breath. “You guys have never been alone,” he says. “Not completely anyway. I was. You guys know that. I think it’s an ever-present thing in your minds now, that I was isolated and alone for years. It’s why you asked me about the fireworks.” Another deep breath and then, “Luther was isolated for four years. He was alone. Completely alone.”

The room erupts in questions and arguments mostly consisting of, “But he wasn’t alone for as long,” and, “but he had communication with the outside world.” Five addresses the second question first. “When?” is all he asks. 

The following silence is astounding. It gives Five the perfect opportunity to answer the first question, every quiet word ringing throughout the room. “Isolation doesn’t work the way we think it does. Eventually, you stop noticing the days. They run together. In the movies, they mark down the days to keep track of the year and season. In real life, if you mark anything down it’s because you can’t remember what day it is. Everything starts blending together. By the time I had been in the apocalypse six months, I had Dolores. - That was before I stopped counting, by the way. – Luther had no one. Nothing.” He turns away, but continues.

“I’m an idiot for not noticing sooner honestly,” he says as he goes to search for coffee. “He does the same thing I do sometimes, flinching away from touch. We – I – should have noticed. Stupid of me really.”

Five turns back and notices all his siblings staring at him. He raises one eyebrow, which is when Klaus says, “What do we do?” The other eyebrow joins the first, so Klaus keeps talking. “We missed something so huge. How did we miss that? How do we fix it? What do we do now? When should we apologize? Does he –“

Five stops him with a quick shake of his head. “Luther went into isolation for four years for Dad, and then he found out it was for no reason, but the worst part is that he’s still trapped. Somewhere inside of him, Luther still thinks Dad’s right. Emotion is weakness. Breaking from isolation is failure. Any panic or anxiety is a flaw to be pushed down. He won’t – can’t – talk to us about it, because in his eyes, he’s the screw-up, and we’re normal.”

“So we should tell him,” Klaus insists.

“We can’t,” Diego says. The others look at him in confusion. “We can’t tell Luther that we don’t think he’s screwed up, because he is. Think about it. When he says, ‘Dad sent me to the moon,’ what do you guys think?”

Silence.

“We think he’s weak. We think he’s whiny. We think he’s just trying to get attention.”

“But that’s wrong,” Allison argues. 

“But it’s true,” is Vanya’s whispered reply. “We do think it.”

“Right,” Diego says, “But the problem with Luther is that he IS screwed up. He isn’t just trying to get attention. He’s hurting and we just… missed it.”

“That’s wrong too,” Klaus says quietly. “We didn’t miss it. We ignored it, didn’t we? Cuz it’s easier.”

The silence is too much. One by one, they flee.

**Author's Note:**

> The ending is weird right? Comment if you liked the ending, maybe? I don't know.


End file.
